The
major job categories in the U.S. Postal Service are Carrier
(City, Rural Carrier, and Rural Carrier Associate), Distribution
Clerk (Manual), Mail-Up
Clerk (Automated), Distribution
Clerk (Machine-LSM Operator), Mail
Handler, Mail
Processor,
and Flat
Sorting Machine Operator.
To get any of these jobs, you must get a high score on the 460 Exam
and 473 Battery Test. The 460 Exam is for the Rural Carrier Associate
only and the 473 Battery Test is for the other seven positions.
City, Rural
& Rural Carrier Associate
Grade: Level
5
Salary Range:
Persons Eligible to Apply: Open
to the general public
Examination Requirement: Must
pass the 473 Battery Test and 460 Examination
As
a carrier (whether city or rural) you’ll be required to sort, rack,
and tie mail at the post office before you start making deliveries
within your route or area of delivery. In sorting letters, you must
arrange them in the same order as the streets occur on the route.
Letters and magazines for occupants of an apartment complex must be
tied together with a rubber band or a belt. If you make a mistake in
reading an address, the letter may go into the wrong home mailbox,
causing a delay in delivery. The next day, you may find a note that
says, “This is not ours. Opened by mistake.” The letter might be
a “deadline” letter, an order from the court, or a warning from a
creditor.
As
a carrier, you’ll maintain required information, record changes of
addresses, maintain other reports, and forward
undeliverable-as-addressed mail.
In
some ways, a rural carrier’s duty is different from that of a city
carrier. If you are hired as a rural carrier or a rural carrier
associate, you’ll be a jack of all trades; you’ll also be a
“walking post office.” You may carry stamps, scales, and other
equipment and supplies to serve the people of the rural area you
cover.
For
this reason, you must know how to compute the cost of a piece of mail
or a package whether it’s going to a neighboring city, Somalia, or
Russia.
Distribution Clerk
(Manual)
Grade: L-5
Salary
Range:
Persons Eligible to Apply: Open to the
general public Examination Requirement: Must pass
the 473 Battery Test.
A
clerk may be the jack-of-all-trades position in the U.S. Postal
Service. If you score high on the 473 Battery Test and land a job in
the Postal Service, you can be a manual distribution clerk.
As
a distribution clerk, you’ll work indoors and will handle sacks of
mail weighing as heavy as 70 pounds.
You’ll sort mail and
distribute it by using a complicated scheme, which must be memorized.
(See How to Score 95-100% on Scheme Tests, a chapter in The Book of
U.S. Postal Exams by Veltisezar Bautista.) You’ll place letters or
flats (magazines and pieces of mail in big envelopes) into the
correct boxes or pigeonholes.
As
a distribution clerk, you’ll also dump sacks of mail onto conveyors
for culling and sorting; you’ll load and unload sacks and trays of
mail on and off mail transporters, such as APCs (All-Purpose
Containers) and BMCs (Bulk Mail Containers). As a clerk, you may also
be assigned to a public counter or window, doing such jobs as selling
stamps and weighing parcels, and you’ll be personally responsible
for all money and stamps.
Mark-Up Clerk:
Mail Forwarder
Grade: L-4
Salary
Range:
Persons Eligible to Apply: Open to
the general public
Examination Requirements: Applicants
must pass the 473 Battery Test and a typing test.
Mark-Up
clerks process mail that is undeliverable as addressed. Previously
they were just known as mark-up clerks, but now they are known as
mark-up clerks, automated. Your duty as a mark-up clerk, automated,
consists of keying on the machine, and other related jobs.
Mark-up
clerks used to mark undeliverable-as-addressed mail with rubber
stamps that said “Return to Sender, Address Unknown,” etc. (But
not with the words “Return to Sender, Went to Heaven or Hell!”)
They used to stick, pre-printed labels with new addresses on
envelopes. These labels were inserted between change-of-address
cards, arranged alphabetically in an index card tray.
Today,
CFS (Computerized Forwarding System) units are installed in USPS
sectional centers throughout the country. If a CFS unit is to be
established by a post office, or if a CFS unit needs additional
employees, postal officials will have to give a 473 Battery Test.
Those already in the service may get these jobs, if they wish, by
bidding for positions. But they must pass a special written and
typing test. Civilian employees in military headquarters or offices
may also request transfer to mark-up clerks, as in other positions.
But they must pass the written and typing test.
Distribution Clerk,
Machine (LSM Operator)
Grade: L-6
Salary
Range:
Persons Eligible to Apply: Open to
the general public
Examination Requirement: Must pass
the 473 Battery Test and the LSM training.
Distribution
Clerks, Machine or Letter Sorting Machine (LSM) Operators are clerks
who operate a machine (called a console) that is attached to a giant
letter-sorting machine. The console has a keyboard similar to that of
a piano. Some people say that if you’re a pianist or know how to
play the piano, you’ll be a good LSM operator.
There
are two kinds of LSM operators. One is assigned to learn one or more
distribution “schemes”; the other is assigned to key ZIP codes.
Every
post office has its schemes, based on its Zip codes. For example,
Warren, Michigan has four ZIZ codes: 48089, 48091, 48092, and 48093.
The scheme involves the routes to which letter carriers are assigned.
For instance, a carrier may be assigned to Route 38, which covers
certain streets. Sometimes a street is divided into several routes.
Also, letters must be diverted to their proper routes. This is the
job of an LSM operator (distribution clerk, machine). A manual
distribution clerk sorts letters according to their route by putting
letters into pigeonholes on a case.
If
you’re assigned to key schemes, you must hit the right keys (two)
on the machine (all numbers), as you read the addresses on envelopes
that are moving from right to left at the speed of about 50 letters
per minute.
If
you’re assigned to key ZIP codes, you have to key only the first
three numbers in the ZIP code. Your speed must be about 60 letters
per minute. The letters you’re keying may go to different ZIP codes
(for instance, Mt.Clemens: 48043, 48044, 48045, and 48046).
Mail Handler
Grade: L-4
Salary
Range:
Persons Eligible to Apply: Open to
the general public
Examination Requirements: Must pass
the 473 Battery Test.
If
you get a job as a mail handler, you’ll work mostly in the dock
area, the canceling section, and the operation area. As the title
indicates, you’ll load and unload mail onto and off trucks and
perform duties incidental to the movement and processing of mail.
As
a mail handler, your duties include separating mail sacks to go to
different routes or cities; canceling parcel post stamps; rewrapping
parcels; and operating canceling machines, addressographs,
mimeographs, and fork-lifts.
Mail Processor
Grade: L-4
Salary
Range:
Persons Eligible to Apply: Open to
the general public. Occasionally, positions are open only to current
employees.
Examination Requirement: Must pass the 473
Battery Test
If
you’re appointed as a mail processor, you’ll process mail using a
variety of automated mail processing equipment. You’ll work at the
optical character reader (OCR) mail processing equipment.
Among
your duties are starting and stopping equipment, culling and loading
mail, clearing jams, sweeping mail from bins, and performing other
related tasks.
Flat Sorting
Machine Operator
Grade: L-5
Salary
Range:
Persons Eligible to Apply: Open to the
general public
Examination Requirement: Must pass the
473 Battery Test
As
a flat-sorting machine operator, your major duty is to operate a
single- or multi-position operator-paced electromechanical machine in
the distribution of flats. (Flats are mailed material mostly
contained in manila envelopes and other self-sealed mail, and are fed
to the machine by an operator to go to different cities or routes.)
You may also be assigned to work in other areas as needed.
Here
are other jobs open to the Public. (Applicants are required to pass
examinations.The total qualifications will be evaluated on the basis
of the results of the writgten test and the review panel’s
evaluation of the applicant’s work experience.)
Area
Maintenance Specialist, Grade: L-7
Area Maintenance
Technician, Grade L-8
Assistant Engineman, Grade:
L-5
Automotive Mechanic, Grade:
L-6
Blacksmith-Welder, Grade: L-7
Building
Maintenance Custodian, Grade L-4
Building Equipment
Mechanic, Grade L-7
Carpenter,
Grade: L-6
Clerk-Stenographer, L-5
Clerk-Typist, L-5
Data
Conversion Operator
Electronics Technician, L-
Elevator
Mechanic, Grade: L-7
Engineman, Grade:
L-6
Fireman
Fireman-Laborer
Garageman, Grade:
L-5
General Mechanic, Grade: L-5
Industrial
Equipment Mechanic, Grade: L-6
Letter Box
Mechanic, Grade: L-6
Machinist, Grade:
L-7
Maintenance Electrician, Grade: L-7
Maintenance
Mechanic
Mason
Mechanic Helper, Grade:
L-4
Motor Vehicle Operator, Grade:
L-5
Oiler, MPE
Painter, Grade:
L-6
Painter-Finisher
Plumber, Grade:
L-6
Postal Machines Mechanic, L-6
Postal
Maintenance Trainee
Scale Mechanic
Stationary
Engineer, Grade: L-7
Trailer-Trailer Operator
